UK / Canada - Release 5 of WYSIWYG lighting-design software is now available. This latest release features a large number of new library items, including 676 truss pieces, 182 conventional fixtures, accessories, 58 moving lights and 91 gobos.

Cast Software’s library-development team has been so busy that they already have a Library Update available for Release 5, including everything they finished since the final CD image was created. Release 5 also contains many useful new features, as well as a set of brand-new ‘Quick Start Tutorials.’ These multimedia tutorials will be helpful to users who are just getting started with WYSIWYG, as well as intermediate users who just want to refresh their skills.

In further WYG news, Cast Software and ETC hosted their first W

UK - The Soundcraft Group has appointed Alex McDonald as its new quality manager. He brings with him the necessary pedigree, having previously worked as worldwide operations quality manager at Pace Micro Technology, where he served for more than 13 years. Prior to joining Pace, Alex held a similar position at Systime Computers, and also spent time with British Olivetti. His primary aim at Soundcraft will be to obtain ISO 9001:2000 certification, which he sees as essential to advance the company’s quality culture even further.

(Ruth Rossington)

UK - Liverpool-based Adlib Audio has supplied and installed a complete sound, lighting rigging and grid system at Parklands City Learning Centre in Speke, Merseyside. City Learning Centres are a government funded initiative set up in run down, deprived inner city areas, to provide learning opportunities for young people using new technologies. The Centres are specifically designed to offer facilities not available in conventional school environments. "The main focus is to lift achievement rates by exposing young people to new technology and ideas based on using it," explains Denise Barrett-Baxendale, director of Parklands.

A performance space was planned for Parklands from the outset, but it wasn’t until Barrett-Baxendale actually accepted her post that serious thought was given to the development of the technical infrastructure. Adlib’s Andy Dockerty speci

UK - Wharfedale loudspeakers took pride of place when the latest - and largest - Academy of Sound opened its doors to the public in Leeds last month. The 8,000sq.ft single-floor operation has allowed the company to set up several dedicated zoned areas, including a PA Theatre, according to sales and development manager, Jon Gold, who oversees all ten Academy stores (plus the direct sales operation). The company closed its smaller Leeds branch in favour of the large retail center, in order to provide a full service in a vibrant environment, and move way from the "trend towards box shifting."

The PA is fully-rigged, allowing customers to test, among other brands, a range of high-specification Wharfedale enclosures - reflecting the strong relationship the company enjoys with the Academy of Sound. Systems include the EVP-S range (EVP-S15SB, EVP-S15 and EVP-S12), as well as

UK - In response to popular demand, PCM is re-launching its Leatherman Wave Supertool promotion - with a free rigger’s accessory Leatherman given away with every order of eight Lodestar hoists!

The Supertool is a multi-purpose accessory, similar to the famous Swiss Army Knife, offering a variety of appendages including screwdrivers, knives, pliers and a sharp saw. It also has everything you might need to disassemble and fix a Lodestar motor - all apart from a corkscrew -not necessary because it was designed in an era when ‘real’ roadies would not have been caught dead drinking wine!

"Hopefully, recipients of the PCM Leatherman will never have to use it in such extreme or dramatic circumstances as Aron Ralston, who amputated his own arm with a similar tool after becoming trapped under a boulder during a hike in the Canyonlands national park in Utah,"

UK - Top American band Wheatus have completed a low-key tour of the UK, playing smaller club and university venues to try out material from their forthcoming album. The London-based front-of-house engineer and programmer Geoff Kakoschke had to deal with some challenging acoustic environments, but none more so than the venue in Hull, in the north of England.

"The PA was just awful," recounts Kakoschke. "It was ancient - I've never seen any of the components before. It looked as though it had been built in someone's garage about 30 years ago! There was a 16-channel console that was so old that there were no markings left on it." Kakoschke called to Soundcraft for help, and a new MH3 console was despatched to Hull. "It was an absolute life-saver, it actually enabled me to get a decent sound out of that dreadful PA system, and it's confirmed me as a Soundcra

Australia - The first orders for the new Minim lighting control desk from Australian lighting equipment manufacturer, LSC Lighting Systems, will leave the factory in June. The Minim has been specifically designed to compliment the maXim range, filling a void for the entry level user both in features and price. Attractively styled and utilising the familiar programming and playback system popular on all LSC desks, the Minim delivers a very easy to use platform with quick access buttons to all major functions - no menu driven systems.

Based on a typical theatrical style layout with 2 presets of 12 faders that can be used in a manual control level or a memory recall mode, the Minim comes into its own by switching the lower bank of preset faders between 'wide' preset - a further extension of the first 12 faders to a total of 24; and 'Playback' masters. The Playback masters can concu

UK - One of the UK’s most established PA hire companies, Canegreen, has unveiled a new corporate identity across the group of companies as it reached the age of 21 this May. Canegreen Limited has built an international reputation supplying pa systems for festivals, tours and one off concerts. Co-founders Peter Edmonds and Yan Stile have co-ordinated new logo’s and websites with a common theme to all of the Canegreen family companies.

Yan said: "Canegreen’s ethos is all about offering clients innovative and fresh solutions regarding sound systems, our new logo’s and websites reflect our contemporary approach." In addition to new logo’s, Canegreen Commercial Limited is the new name adopted by the sister company, which serves the corporate events industry (replacing the name Canegreen Commercial Presentations Limited). Director Andrew Frengle

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UK - Star Hire (Event Services) Ltd provided the stages and ancillary site structures recently as rock music returned to Donington Park for the new Download festival. As the name suggests, Download also introduced a new concept to festivals, as fans who bought tickets could download free tracks from the festival’s website. 54 acts appeared on the main two stages over the two days, which ranged from new act Evanescence, to the more established ‘Manson’, to Iron Maiden and a surprise performance by Metallica on the second ‘Scuzz’ stage.

The main Radio 1 / Kerrang stage was Star Hire’s Vertech 20m festival stage, which created a suitably ‘larger than life canvas’ for the show. In addition to the performance area, the stage housed the PA monitor system in the wings and gave the production team room at the rear to prepare equipment to e

Czech Republic - Harry von den Stemmen has been appointed international sales manager for leading European moving light manufacturer Robe Show Lighting s.r.o. The appointment follows the launch of Robe as an independent brand, and its impressive international growth over the last 12 months. "It’s great to have Harry onboard," says Josef Valchár", co-owner and managing director of Robe Show Lighting. "His appointment will ensure we maintain the highest levels of proactivity and detail in dealing with our international customers."

Von Den Stemmen’s impressive CV includes 20 years’ commercial experience in the pro lighting industry. He’s been involved in theatre, entertainment and architectural sectors - from cruise ships to large building projects. He joins Robe from Martin Professional, where he was business development and archit

UK - The Sound-Effects-Library.com has created a new on-line sound design service which provides high quality sound solutions for the design community. Available for the first time via the Internet, it offers designers from all industry sectors such as games, exhibitions, conference, events and website creation a way to give their clients a competitive edge, by adding individually tailored soundscapes.

The Sound-Effects-Library.com has provided an on-line resource of sound effects, music samples and music tracks since 1999, where sounds can be uniquely searched, auditioned and downloaded within a few minutes. It now houses over 200,000 sound files on-line and a back catalogue of over four million sounds spanning decades of motion picture history. Demand from organizations such as Electronic Arts and the Millennium Dome, events companies and museums have fuelled the collaboration

Germany - Equipment rental company Ultraschall, based in Kassel, near Hanover, has become the first in Germany to invest in a new Nexo GEO T tangent array system, with Camco amplification. Ultraschall has taken delivery of 24 GEO T4805 cabinets and 8 CD18 sub-bass units, and has expanded its inventory of Nexo NX241 controllers and Camco Vortex 6 digital amplifiers. A long-time Nexo user, the company was the first in Germany to buy an Alpha system, and last year led the way with a GEO S system.

"Our experience with the GEO S system has been incredibly positive, we have had so many jobs because of this system," says Jesko Purmann of Ultraschall. "GEO T is a system for big applications. Essentially, it uses the same technology, scaled up, so we were confident that we would once again get great results. We've always had such good experiences with NEXO."

(Lee Ba

USA - Mackie Designs Inc has announced the release of UAD-1 version 3.1 software, and the availability of a new powered plug-in, Cambridge EQ. Version 3.1 enables multi-card support on the Macintosh platform as well as compatibility for the Cambridge EQ on both Mac and Windows-based systems. Cambridge is a new a five-band, fully parametric EQ featuring high and low cuts with a wide variety of filter types and curves.

Version 3.1 software is a free download for registered UAD-1 owners available via the Universal Audio website at: www.uaudio.com/PPI/home.html or the Mackie website at: www.mackie.com/record/uad1/index.html. Cambridge EQ is available for sale online at www.mackie.com.

New features include

USA / Hong Kong - Color Kinetics Inc has been awarded a patent in Hong Kong, covering its Chromacore technology. The patent will further strengthen Color Kinetics' position as the premier provider of intelligent LED illumination systems in Asia.

Chromacore is a breakthrough technology that applies microprocessor-controlled LEDs to generate millions of colors and dynamic lighting effects without the constraints and complexities of traditional light sources. The technology was awarded a U.S. patent in January 2000, a European patent in 2002, and is now covered by Patent #HK1025416 in Hong Kong - the first of many patents expected to issue in the company's name in Asia.

Color Kinetics' Chromacore-powered systems are widely used throughout Asia today, including high-profile installations such as the Shanghai Westin Hotel, Cathay Financial Dome in Taipei, high-end fashion retailer

UK - West London Electric of Acton, London - one of the UK’s oldest commercial audio distribution companies - recently launched itself onto the internet with a full-blown, multi-discount website. The site allows existing and new customers alike to search the company’s virtual warehouse for any one of thousands of products from manufacturers including TOA, Denon, Shure, DNH, Australian Monitor, AKG and Audio-Technica, to name but a few. Each product entry is supported by a full description, making this site a source for knowledge as well as competitive pricing.

What’s more, users can produce their own quotation on the site - complete with sales literature if required - which they can choose to convert to an order at a later date. Marc Ryan, managing director of WLE and descendent of founder Charles Ryan (once known as the 'Gramophone King of Acton'), remarked: &

Lebanon - MC2 Audio's official supplier for the territories of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, Triangle Sound & Image, has recently installed the sound system for the newly opened Moorea Beach Resort. This beachfront resort opened last Saturday and more than two thousand guests partyed all day long around the circular swimming pool with its in-pool bar.

A tented bar is equipped with MC2 T2000 amplifiers driving Renkus-Heinz Qube 15 speakers and double 18" subwoofer enclosures. The system runs daily for about 12 hours, increasing to 16 hours at the weekend. Zahid Elian of Triangle Sound & Image says: 'The resort attracts a young crowd creating an even more enjoyable mood than St. Tropez, Mykonos or Ibiza' and Elian also reports that local critics described what they heard as "the best outdoor sound ever heard."

(Lee Baldock)

USA - Barco is pleased to announce that its SLM R8 projector was awarded this year’s Best New Video Projection Award at the Rental & Staging Systems Awards held at InfoComm yesterday. The annual Rental & Staging Systems Awards, which recognize excellence in the design and production of new products as well as the AV production for staged events, were held at InfoComm in Orlando on Wednesday. The awards for best new products in the rental and staging market, in which Barco’s SLM R8 won Best New Video Projection Product, were determined by a special Rental & Staging Systems Magazine readers’ poll.

Barco’s SLM R8 projector, which forms part of Barco’s SLM projection range, is equipped with a 3-chip DLP sub-system, features SXGA resolution Digital Micro Mirror Devices and a state-of-the-art optical system, and provides a compact, multi-purpose solution

Russia - The year 2003 heralds the 300th anniversary of the city of St. Petersburg in Russia, and the historic Mariinsky Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, home of the world-famous Kirov Opera and Ballet, is celebrating with the installation of new Selecon Pacific zoomspot ballet booms!

The promise of performances by such prestigious ballet companies as the Royal Ballet, London; the New York City Ballet and the Hamburg Ballet as part of the festivities, provided the push that Vladimir Lukasevich, the Mariinsky's renowned resident lighting designer had been looking for. With support from his colleagues from the visiting ballet companies the funding to replace the old, ill-equipped ballet booms was granted. As with most venues the ability to multi-task is vital and as the booms would have to be multi-purpose - Opera as well as the Ballet - and the Pacific zoomspots fit the bill in

France - Opera de Lille one of France’s most prestigious performing arts venues is currently undergoing a complete refurbishment. Stage Technologies have recently been contracted to work on the project by French engineers Tambe Sarl who are responsible for equipping the venue with both mechanical and automation control systems.

Having built a reputation for designing technically advanced automation solutions for venues from the Gothenburg Stadsteater to the Lyric Opera in Chicago Stage Technologies are delighted to have the opportunity to provide automation for Lille. The supply includes the control of an impressive 66 winches (50 variable speed and 16 fixed). Stage Technologies integrated drive technology, MaxisID is at the heart of Lille’s control system and will be controlled by Nomad and Solo consoles. Modular in design this system will allow the Opera House to e

UK - Pro audio distributor, beyerdynamic (GB) Ltd, has recently supplied Elstree-based Everything Audio with a complement of Klein + Hummel O 400 active loudspeakers and O 800 studio sub-woofers for use in Universal Sound’s new purpose-built Foley editing suite in Amersham. Everything Audio’s Roger Patel collaborated with Universal’s Phill Barrett and acoustic consultant Noel Hill to design and supply a state-of-the-art digital system which featured the K+H monitors, specified for their sonic clarity, robust design and aesthetics - they offered the perfect solution for Universal’s stylish editing facility.

Acknowledged as one of the finest Foley recording/editing facilities in the UK, Universal Sound has worked with major TV broadcast stations and production companies including Yorkshire Television, Granada, Martyr TV the BBC and 4 MC for over 10 years. P

UK - The football world has seen some huge games recently and Hand Held Audio has been called in to supply some unusual radio systems. Kevin Bannerman of K2B Audio specializes in sound services for large sporting events, and is involved in soccer, rugby and cricket, but lately the beautiful game has taken his attention, with Internationals, European Cup ties and the FA Cup requiring wireless systems.

Bannerman uses a high power link - one of Hand Held's 1W transmitters coupled with UHF radio mic receivers as a problem solver at these large events. His service provides sound for pre-match and half-time announcements and entertainments - for example, he used the link to send signal to a sound system in the Old Trafford car park at the recent European Champions League Final, so that people entering the ground were able to hear the pre-match entertainment, which included a live perf

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